February 7, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Exodus 28:1-29:30; Matthew 23:1-12

Weekly Memory Verse: 1 Corinthians 2:16

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Numbers 2 (NASB95)
¹ Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “The sons of Israel shall camp, each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ households; they shall camp around the tent of meeting at a distance. ³ “Now those who camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah, by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab, ⁴ and his army, even their numbered men, 74,600. ⁵ “Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, and the leader of the sons of Issachar: Nethanel the son of Zuar, ⁶ and his army, even their numbered men, 54,400. ⁷ “Then comes the tribe of Zebulun, and the leader of the sons of Zebulun: Eliab the son of Helon, ⁸ and his army, even his numbered men, 57,400. ⁹ “The total of the numbered men of the camp of Judah: 186,400, by their armies. They shall set out first. ¹⁰ “On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Reuben: Elizur the son of Shedeur, ¹¹ and his army, even their numbered men, 46,500. ¹² “Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon, and the leader of the sons of Simeon: Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, ¹³ and his army, even their numbered men, 59,300. ¹⁴ “Then comes the tribe of Gad, and the leader of the sons of Gad: Eliasaph the son of Deuel, ¹⁵ and his army, even their numbered men, 45,650. ¹⁶ “The total of the numbered men of the camp of Reuben: 151,450 by their armies. And they shall set out second. ¹⁷ “Then the tent of meeting shall set out with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; just as they camp, so they shall set out, every man in his place by their standards. ¹⁸ “On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Ephraim shall be Elishama the son of Ammihud, ¹⁹ and his army, even their numbered men, 40,500. ²⁰ “Next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh, and the leader of the sons of Manasseh: Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, ²¹ and his army, even their numbered men, 32,200. ²² “Then comes the tribe of Benjamin, and the leader of the sons of Benjamin: Abidan the son of Gideoni, ²³ and his army, even their numbered men, 35,400. ²⁴ “The total of the numbered men of the camp of Ephraim: 108,100, by their armies. And they shall set out third. ²⁵ “On the north side shall be the standard of the camp of Dan by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Dan: Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, ²⁶ and his army, even their numbered men, 62,700. ²⁷ “Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher, and the leader of the sons of Asher: Pagiel the son of Ochran, ²⁸ and his army, even their numbered men, 41,500. ²⁹ “Then comes the tribe of Naphtali, and the leader of the sons of Naphtali: Ahira the son of Enan, ³⁰ and his army, even their numbered men, 53,400. ³¹ “The total of the numbered men of the camp of Dan was 157,600. They shall set out last by their standards.” ³² These are the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ households; the total of the numbered men of the camps by their armies, 603,550. ³³ The Levites, however, were not numbered among the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³⁴ Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they camped by their standards, and so they set out, every one by his family according to his father’s household.^[1]

Try to picture the arrangement in your mind, all the tribes are camped around the tabernacle.  The tribes, divisions and families were all marked by flags of some sort.  We don't know what these flags were, or what they were constructed of.  Some say that the twelve tribes had their own insignia, like Judah had the lion; this is based on Hebrew tradition.  But try to imagine what it would be like in the days without any communication devices.  Banners made a logical sense where people could find their tribes, divisions and families, especially while they were on the move.  The logical order also aided in enabling a person to find his people while the march was taking place. 

The tabernacle and the Levites are in the center of the camp.  The most precious possession that the Jewish people owned at this time was the tabernacle and God arranged them so that they could not only be in a position to protect it, but also so that they would all be in close proximity of it.  The smoke from the daily sacrifices and tabernacle worship was a constant reminder to all of the Jews that they were God's people and everything revolved around God. 

The one thing that we have forgotten today is that it is all about God.  We are merely players in the game, we are the ones who live out our lives in service to God.  The flip side of that is that God is not our servant, we are His servants.  The Jewish people were arranged in a way that this was a constant reminder to them, everything revolved around the tabernacle.

The arrangement of the tribes was on the east side of the tabernacle, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.  The south side, Reuben, Simeon, and Gad.  The west side Ephriam, Manasseh, and Benjamin. The north side was Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.  When the tribes were on the march, The march was in an orderly fashion in the following order, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Reuben, Simeon, Gad, The Tabernacle carried by the Levites, Ephriam, Manasseh, Benjamin, Dan, Asher and Naphtali.  The tabernacle was protected even in the march because the fighting force was split front to rear with the Tabernacle safely tucked away right in the middle. 

Ruth 4:20 (NASB95)
²⁰ and to Amminadab was born Nahshon, and to Nahshon, Salmon,

Matthew 1:4 (NASB95)
⁴ Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon.

Genesis 29:31-35 (NASB95)
³¹ Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. ³² Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.” ³³ Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon. ³⁴ She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi. ³⁵ And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.^[2]

The Messianic line is noted through Nashon in verse 3, this is later referred to  in Ruth and Matthew.  God arranged the tribes different than birth order, Judah was born forth in his family line and actually the eighth chronogically in the twelve sons of Israel.  Yet Judah was moved to the front, and Judah also carried the Messianic lineage.  God does not look at man's rules, He looks at the heart, this act of supplanting the first-born is a common occurrence through the Bible, for example, Isaac and Ishmael, and Jacob and Esau, (The New American Commentary: Numbers.)

I am going to close here, the beeper got me.  Remember, one important lesson from this chapter today is that it is not about us, it is all about God.  He is the center and the reason for everything that we do in our lives, just as this was true for the Hebrews.

Father, as we consider Your word today, I ask that each of us will take this valuable lesson and apply it to our lives, turn us from our self-centered lives and refocus our attention on You.

In Him,

Joe Turner.